Smart AI No More
by Tsaalyo Phoenix
Summary: Cortana knows a relationship between her and John is impossible, but she can't help feeling for him... but upon returning to Earth, she finds both hope and horror.
1. Solemn Thoughts

Note: This story ignores the extra ominous ending if Halo 3 is beaten on Legendary. Halo 4 will likely take three or four years if it ever comes at all, so might as well write this while nothing is canon yet.

* * *

"Wake me… when you need me." John said.

Cortana gasped lightly at the statement, giving John a look of gratefulness and adoration, before smiling and nodding lightly.

John smiled too, though through his helmet this fact was not apparent, and lowered his head. The cryostasis unit activated, and John closed his eyes and was finally able to relax.

Cortana crossed her arms and looked around. She'd have nothing to stare at but the steel grey construction of the _Dawn_ around her, and two cryostasis units, one containing her motionless savior.

Cortana would have plenty of time to think, that's for sure. But Smart AI's have a limited lifespan. It was estimated after Installation Zero-Four was destroyed that she had 7 more years before she irreparably shut down.

She and John would likely be recovered before that time. It wasn't certain, but it wasn't out of the question. If the UNSC was receiving Cortana's beacon already, the only uncertainty would be whether or not Earth was willing to risk losing a deep space starship for years to find out whether the distress beacon was someone needing rescue or merely a scrap ship.

Each thought Cortana had brought her that much closer to her eventual 'system crash', so to speak.

"Soaking in all that information from both Halos and the Gravemind sure didn't help." Cortana said to herself. She knew that the 7 year estimation was much shorter now. She'd be lucky to live another three. And even if the UNSC sent their fastest deep-space ship ASAP to get there…

Cortana let out a depressed sigh at the thought. When the 7 year mark was estimated she had clung to the hope that within 7 years the UNSC would find a way to extend the Smart AI lifespan. How cruel was it, to create a sentient being programmed to gather knowledge, but with an obscenely short lifespan cut ever shorter with every new bit of information?

And… all sentient beings are capable of falling in love. This was never a big issue with Smart AI before – they were typically confined to the bridge of a spacecraft, watching deckhands, officers, and captains come and go on almost a weekly basis. There was no developing relationships with anyone.

Cortana though… she had been alone with John for weeks at a time. She helped him, he helped her. They often spoke; chatted about this and that to fight off boredom while waiting for a Pelican or a Phantom. And now, John went out of his way to go back and fight through hordes of Flood just to keep his promise. Cortana knew it was unrealistic and actually pretty stupid for an AI construct to fall in love with a human. She knew enough about physical relationships to know that holograms were not sufficient to keep one up. But still, looking at John's cryonically frozen form… she couldn't help but long for him. He was honest, selfless, brave, obviously kept his promises no matter what… and unlike a lot of UNSC marines, he wasn't a sexist freak. All in all, for essentially a "military girl" like Cortana, John was the perfect man.

But Cortana didn't know if he felt the same way about her. She never had the time nor the guts to ask. And even if he did, so what? She'd likely shut down before Earth was done any reconstruction project, so she and John would have a very short relationship of… doing nothing but talking. And that was assuming that they were back on Earth, not on half a starship outside of the Milky Way with no life support.

"Romeo and Juliet…" Cortana said to herself, and spat at their names. What did they know about unattainable love?

Cortana turned off her hologram and continued to think about this. Each thought of the sorrow of her situation brought her that much closer to her demise.

It was torture.


	2. Rescue

"…five… four… three… two… one… happy second anniversary."

It had been two years since John told Cortana to wake him when she needed him. Cortana wanted to more than anything, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew that once she started telling him how she was feeling she wouldn't be able to stop. It would be an unfair burden to place upon a man in this situation. No, the best thing to do was to hope that they were recovered before Cortana shut down. If that didn't happen, she wouldn't have to force John through the pain of losing someone close to him in a place like this. That is, assuming she was close to him…

If Cortana had her hologram up she would have cringed at the thought that John did not care for her any more than he did a fellow Marine.

Suddenly, something shook the ship slightly. It was barely noticeable, only violent enough to perhaps make a marble roll a few inches, but it was there.

Cortana activated her hologram.

What could it have been? Space debris hitting the side of the ship would have produced a sharper and more brief vibration. It seemed to fit the profile of some kind of explosion in the distance.

Only one way to find out.

Cortana activated the thawing routine on John's cryostasis unit. Immediately frozen mist started venting from the top of the unit. After a minute or so the hatch popped open, and a cloud of mist vented out.

John lay motionless for a few moments, before grabbing the sides of the unit and pulling himself into a sort of sitting position.

"What's the news, Cortana?" John asked, his voice slightly groggy.

"The ship just vibrated, like something exploded nearby." Cortana replied.

John just nodded in understanding and pushed off the unit, floating to Cortana's holo-console.

Suddenly, something flew around the corner and stopped abruptly in front of John and Cortana. A small hovering machine. It was round, a metallic blue, and bore a striking resemblance to the Monitors.

John instinctively grabbed his nearby MA5B.

"Relax, Chief." Came a familiar voice through Cortana's console.

"…Sergeant Johnson??" Cortana exclaimed.

"That's me." The voice said. "We just warped in on the _Righteous Fury_, an Elite Destroyer. We got your beacon, Cortana."

"What is this thing?" Cortana asked.

"Oh, right. It's a new type of search drone, built around the schematics the Covenant scanned off Guilty Spark." Johnson said. "Grab on, it'll bring you back."

With that, the drone turned its' back to John and Cortana. John retrieved Cortana from the console, plugged her into his helmet, and took hold of the drone.

The drone smoothly flew out of the _Dawn_ and out into open space.

The Ark was no longer in view, nor were any nearby planets or asteroids. The only things visible were the _Dawn_, the _Righteous Fury_, and a sea of stars.

"Sir, how the hell did you get off the Ark?" Cortana asked.

"That's classified." Johnson replied.

_Of course it is,_ Cortana thought.

John looked at the endless sea of stars all around him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Cortana offered. "Not many people get a view like this."

"Yeah." John said simply.

The drone took John and Cortana to the gravity lift on the underside of the _Righteous Fury_. The lift did not activate, however. The hatch merely opened and the drone flew John and Cortana into the ship by itself.

Once they were inside, the hatch closed. John let go of the drone and dropped to his feet.

"Good to have you back, Master Chief." Johnson said, giving a crisp salute which John returned.

John and Cortana were greeted by Johnson, two Marines, and a handful of Elites. The Elites stood at attention, though clearly not as ready to jump on any order as the Marines were.

"So the separation from the Covenant is official?" John asked in a statement tone.

"The Covenant is a broken, honorless scrap of its' former glory." An Elite said. "Even calling them 'Covenant' is a desecration of our ancestors and what they fought to achieve."

"That's great." John said.

"A lot's changed since you two've been out here, Chief." Johnson said. "It's a three month trip, so you'll have plenty of time to get caught up."

"Just three months?" Cortana asked.

"It's an Elite ship, it goes faster." Johnson said with a shrug. "Now let's get to the Bridge; standing on a giant trap door above outer space freaks me out."

Suddenly, Cortana felt something terribly wrong. In an instant, she and John seemed to move from the gravity lift to the door ten feet away, and again an instant later they had moved five feet down the hall.

"Chief!" Cortana said with more than a little urgency.

"Ye- is- -tana? Wh- -ong?" Was the only reply she could hear.

"It's happening! I'm starting to shut down!" Cortana shrieked.

* * *

John stopped and knocked on the back of his helmet. The Elites kept going, but Johnson and the two Marines stopped and turned to him. 

"What is it, sir?" A Marine asked.

John lowered his hand.

"It's Cortana. She's yelling something at me, but it's coming like a broken transmission." John explained.

"Well damn." Johnson said. "We'd better take her to one of the labs. I think she's starting to crash."


	3. Unorthodox Solution

Johnson quickly led John through the halls of the _Righteous Fury_ towards the labs.

"Jacobs! Get to the lab; you were right, it's happening." Johnson barked into his microphone.

"Oooohhh can't wait!!" Came a voice that was a little too enthusiastic for John's liking.

John had never put too much thought into his relationship with Cortana. He spent a lot of time with her, and had developed a friendship with her that he had with very few others over the course of his life. His dedication towards always keeping his promises wasn't the only reason he took that detour and went to rescue Cortana. He was as close with her as a person can be with an artificial intelligence. The thought of her 'dying' was odd, first off, but it certainly wasn't pleasant.

"This thing really only has equipment to make plasma cells and the like, but the tech boys figured Cortana might start crashing soon." Johnson said. "Apparently they brought some equipment and want to try an experiment."

"What kind?" John asked.

"Beats me." Johnson replied.

They arrived in the closest thing to a science wing that the _Righteous Fury_ had. Johnson took the first door on the left, and John followed.

This lab was small, but all the Elite equipment was installed along the walls and was seemingly all automated, so most of the room was empty, giving it a spacious feel. There was a stretcher set up as a table in the room, with a white sheet over it hiding a body. There was also a mobile computer terminal of human construction, connected to the Elite device on the wall beside it.

There was a man in a white coat in the room, with a nametag reading 'Jacobs', as well as an Elite wearing an oddly designed purple armor with no helmet.

Jacobs jumped a little in excitement when John walked in.

"Quick, quick, give her to me!" He said a little too loudly.

John took Cortana out of his helmet and handed her over. Jacobs put her into his computer.

"Okay, whew, good, this will keep her from crashing for about an hour." Jacobs said. "Good to see you, sir! Wow, you're tall!"

"Get on with it!" Johnson barked. "What is all this?"

"Oh right, right, right!" Jacobs said, clearly not lacking caffeine in his diet. He took hold of the white sheet and pulled it back a little, revealing from the chest up a young woman in a UNSC First Lieutenant uniform. Her eyes were closed, but she had Caucasian skin and black hair down to her shoulders.

"Time of death?" Johnson asked.

"We still don't have a time of birth, actually." Jacobs said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "We grew this woman in a lab back on Earth; she's never had any form of consciousness. I want to put Cortana" he motioned to his computer, "into this." He patted the woman's forehead.

"…what in God's name are you talking about?" Johnson asked.

The Elite suddenly spoke up, growing weary of Jacobs and his inability to stand still.

"Your Constructs are simply a collection of electrical signals, similar to how our brains function." The Elite explained. "In theory, one could transfer the electrical signals from a Construct into a dead brain, and the Construct would take control of the body."

Jacobs smiled wide and motioned with both hands at the Elite, as if to say 'what he said.'

"Isn't there more to a brain than just electricity? Aren't there… chemicals, and crap?" Johnson asked.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Jacobs said, raising one finger as if to signify a major point. "But there's nothing to Cortana but some code. Transferring a human into a Construct is still way beyond us what with all those 'chemicals', but a Construct to a human, if possible, is entirely within our means!"

"This is entirely an experiment; we can't guarantee any form of success." The Elite interjected.

"Cortana will crash if we don't do this?" John asked.

"She's got an hour tops, and that's thanks to this." Jacobs replied, swinging his hand to motion towards his computer but accidentally smacking his hand against it.

"...do it." John said.

Johnson eyed John for a moment before nodding to Jacobs.

"Here we go!" Jacobs exclaimed happily, hooking some wires to the 'dead' woman's temples and forehead.

Johnson walked to the door. "Chief." He said, and waved for John to follow.

John walked out, and the door automatically closed.

"There's pretty much no chance of this working, so don't get your hopes up." Johnson said.

John said nothing.

"Growing a person to try an experiment… what's the UNSC coming to? But I guess the SPARTAN-II program was pretty out there too." Johnson said, mostly trying to get some response from John.

"You said I have catching up to do?" John asked, changing the subject.

Johnson's curious face changed to a bleak and serious one.

"Yeah. Earth is in the craphole. To the bridge." Johnson said, and started walking. John followed.

"The Covenant?" John asked, following.

"Worse. The Flood." Johnson replied. "Some of those bastards survived the bombardment. Those spores have spread through most of North America. We quarantine cities and exterminate them by hand, but spores always find a place to hide and just infect people right after we pull out."

"They've infected places too populated to glass?" John asked.

"Exactly. We'd have to take out some major cities, power facilities, and even some UNSC property." Johnson replied.

"So what's the plan?" John asked.

"Right now? You are the plan." Johnson said grimly. "Tech boys are working on some kind of retrovirus to target the Flood cells, or something, but it's slow going."

"What about the Elites?" John asked.

"They're assisting with our quarantine and extermination teams, but they've had no luck with a retrovirus either." Johnson replied. "It's a three month trip, so hopefully things will have improved when we get back."


	4. Corporal Matthews

They were dead. All of them.

Eudesque, Nash, Peterson, Bernhart; Four squads, over 30 Marines, all dead.

A Pelican dropship piloted by the Flood had managed to break through the quarantine containment field around an infected UNSC base built in the center of Lake Michigan. The Elites quickly sent a fleet of Banshees to intercept it, but instead of managing to completely destroy it in the air, they destroyed its' engines and forced it to crash land in the middle of Chicago.

A quarantine containment field was hastily set up around the possible infection radius, and the majority of civilians were evacuated. Spores still managed to infect dozens of people though, and now the UNSC had to purge every skyscraper in the infected area.

No small task, as the tallest building in the infected area was none other than the 1450 foot Sears Tower. Five squads of Marines had been assigned to clear out the Tower. And as far as Corporal Matthews knew, he was the last one left.

Matthews crouched under a large desk in a business presentation room. Glass walls with curtains, a huge desk, chairs all around, and a presentation screen were the only things in the room. The air was clouded by a dirty, musky dust, indicative of a heavy Flood infestation that had far exceeded what was anticipated when this mission began. Dozens, possibly even hundreds of people didn't manage to escape the Spores, and now the Tower was absolutely crawling with infected Flood forms.

The room was against the outside wall, so there was a large window through which Matthews could theoretically signal for help. But it was nighttime, and he was too high up. Nobody could see him, and even if they could, no help would be able to get to him anytime soon.

Visibly shaking, and holding his shotgun in a manner that could almost be seen as hugging, Matthews listened to the never ending clawing and slithering of Flood all around him. He could hear the tapping of tiny Spore legs in the air vent in the room, and knew it would be only moments before they found their way in. And once they found him, unless he managed to kill them without making a sound, the Flood forms would no doubt break in within moments. There weren't any in the room beyond the glass wall, but he could hear them in the hallway outside.

The tapping in the vent was coming closer. Matthews wiped the sweat from his face, drenching his hand in a salty mixture of sweat and the airborne Flood grime that had stuck to his face.

The spore revealed itself. It popped the grating off the vent and stood there motionless, while a thick cloud of Flood grime lofted out into the room, no longer impeded by the grating. Matthews started shaking more and began breathing harder, waiting for the Spore to jump down and try to sting him.

He didn't have to wait long. The spore ran forward, not appearing to jump in any manner but preferring to simply run off the edge, and fell to the ground. Not slowing down, it charged for Matthews.

Using the shotgun as a baseball bat, Matthews swung for the Spore. The hit connected, and the spore simply exploded in a silent puff of gas and slime.

Two more spores quickly ran out of the vent, likewise blindly charging for Matthews. Again Matthews swung at them, but only managed to hit one.

The second Spore jumped for Matthews' face. Matthews screamed and instinctively smacked it away. The Spore hit the ground, seemingly breaking a few of its' spidery legs, and Matthews quickly finished it off by slamming the butt of his shotgun down on it.

The Spore exploded like the first two, but this was no cause to celebrate. Slamming the shotgun to the ground shattered the ceramic tile, producing a loud crack that echoed through the room.

As suddenly as someone changing the channel on a television, the background noise of the building turned from an idle chattering to a violent mix of banging footsteps and slithering wet noises.

An infected human ran into the outside room from the hallway and spotted Matthews immediately. Matthews quickly crawled out from under the table and jumped to his feet, hitting his back against the edge of the table in the process.

The infected human charged, mouth open as if to give a war cry but producing nothing more than sickening wet groans. Seemingly oblivious to the glass wall, it jumped for Matthews.

Matthews screamed, aimed his shotgun, and fired.

The blast broke any form of silence the building still had, shattering the glass wall in a huge spray of shrapnel. The infected human took the shot in the gut and was blasted in half, adding the thick liquefied goo that was once internal organs to the glass explosion.

The torso of the infected human sailed above Matthews and landed on the table. Wasting no time and seemingly oblivious to the damage it had taken, the torso flipped itself onto its' stomach and began dragging itself towards Matthews.

"NO!!" Matthews screamed at it, and fired at it again. The shot was to the head, and the infected human was blasted completely apart.

Matthews was only vaguely aware of the glass shards impaling him in various places, as Spores and more infected humans charged into the room.

Matthews grabbed the nearby chair and threw it at the oncoming Flood, attempting to slow them down. He then aimed and began unloading his shotgun. Blast after blast ripped into the infected humans, ripping them apart in various places. The constant eruptions from the shotgun sent the airborne Flood grime flying in all directions, so the air itself seemed as mindlessly angry as the Flood that created it. Rotting body parts and liquefied internal organs sprayed in all directions.

The Spores were able to evade most of the flying lead, and charged for Matthews. Matthews screamed and kicked them back as best he could, but was stung multiple times before he could subdue them. In that time, one of the infected humans had managed to get within striking distance of Matthews.

Matthews jumped onto the table and kicked the infected human away. In a panic, he grabbed for one of his grenades, but dropped it before he could throw it. He managed to kick it away from himself just before it exploded, adding shards of metal to the shards of glass already stinging him.

Only a couple of infected humans remained in the room, and they were severely crippled, but Matthews could hear more coming down the hall. He looked over his trembling hands, dimly aware of the shrapnel piercing them. The stings from the Spores had begun the infection process, and Matthews' very skin was slowly changing color and _moving_.

Screaming from a mix of terror and pain, Matthews could only do one thing now. He pressed the shotgun against the roof of his mouth and pulled the trigger…

Nothing.

Matthews cursed and threw the empty shotgun away. He still had a grenade left, and he knew exactly how to use it. He grabbed it, armed it, and held it against his chest.

Infected humans charged into the room and leapt for Matthews. Matthews smiled at them, doing his best to mask his terror and pain.

"COME AND GET IT, YOU BASTARDS!!" He screamed.


	5. A Second Life

_Oh god… the lights… too bright…_

"Dr. Jacobs, she's awakening."

_The… what… Captain Keyes… it's not a weapons cache…_

"Look, look at her. Shut those lights off."

"Why are you clapping?"

"Well there's no light switch, how DO you shut them off?"

_Sod off…_

The world was an odd mix of inky blackness and blinding light. How both could exist at the same time was a question for the ages. Images flashed in and out sporadically, of random people and places. Some people seemed to make the world itself darker, while others aided the blinding light.

Then, the lights faded, and upon their departure the images and feelings seemed to become more clear.

A hand slowly rose up and into the gloom, and just sort of hung there. It slowly turned one way, then the other, allowing a view of it from all angles. As it moved, it seemed to leave a slow trail of itself behind it, which faded after a few seconds.

Suddenly, a man in white entered the gloom, towering overhead like a giant. His whole outline seemed to be blurred, giving him an effect like he was radiating. He reached out, his hands leaving odd fading trails, and took hold of the hand.

"Easy, easy, relax, relax, the anesthetic hasn't even reached half life yet." The man said, his voice breaking the odd silence with the force of a thunderclap. "I'll give you the counter drug, hang on." The voice seemed to echo, mimicking the effect of the trail that the hand left as it moved.

The man retrieved a syringe from his coat and seemed to reach down to the side, where the world ended. From that direction came an odd, dull pressure sensation which lasted for but a few moments.

After a few seconds, the world suddenly became much clearer, like a person needing glasses that had just put them on. The odd trails that followed any sort of motion and the radiating effect all disappeared. Sounds no longer stretched out or echoed.

More importantly, a rush of knowledge came flying back. Her name was Cortana. She had spent two years aboard the _Dawn_, waiting for rescue. Then the _Righteous Fury_ came, and once aboard she began to crash.

But, even in straining, she couldn't remember as much as she knew she should have. Most recent events were clearer, but the further back she went, the more that images and memories began to fade and grow more and more uncertain. Memories prior to Installation Zero-Four were nothing more than brief, vague flashes.

"Good to see you're not screaming anymore, ma'am." The man in the white coat - 'Dr. Jacobs' according to the nametag - said.

"Well I had to let Master Chief know I was starting to shut down." Cortana said.

Cortana felt something was… not wrong, but different. Her voice had changed, as did how the world appeared to her. And… just… everything felt wrong.

"No, not that. You… don't remember?" Jacobs asked.

"Remember what?" Cortana asked.

"Damn it, why do you always have to be right?" Jacobs asked the Elite standing beside him.

The Elite did something as close to a human groan as he could produce.

"The human brain couldn't possibly contain all the knowledge you had gained in the course of your existence." The Elite said. "The very moment you first gained consciousness you were screaming; in extreme pain from the stress your brain was under trying to contain everything."

"We had to sedate you for the past eleven weeks so you could naturally 'forget' things until you were stable." Jacobs continued. "We could have just given you a shot of serum to make you forget everything, but we didn't want you to forget who you were and all that."

Cortana stared at the two.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked.

Jacobs and the Elite looked at each other for a moment. Jacobs closed a reflective metal briefcase resting on top of the computer terminal and held it in front of Cortana.

Reflections weren't something Cortana had ever had to deal with, so it took her a few seconds to figure it out. But once she did, she gasped and almost fell out of the stretcher.

"Calm down! Calm!" Jacobs exclaimed, grabbing Cortana so she wouldn't fall.

Cortanas' mind raced. She was human! How, why? Dozens of questions came at her all at once. What year was this? Where was she? Was this all some strange hallucination, for lack of a better word, brought on by her impending final crash? She was so far off in her own world that Jacobs had to repeat himself for Cortana to hear him.

"Ma'am!" Jacobs said a little too loudly. "Can you sit up?"

"I… think so." Cortana stuttered. She slowly reached to either edge of the stretcher and, aided by Jacobs, pushed herself into a sitting position. She let out another gasp at this, as now she was able to look down and see… her body! No longer was she a translucent humanoid jumble of code, ever changing from blue to green to purple. She let go of the stretcher and examined her hands, realizing that the hand that rose up while she was barely conscious was her own.

"Okay, good, good, great!" Jacobs said in increasing volume, his face mimicking at child on Christmas morning. He reached into his coat and retrieved a hand held intercom. "Sarah!"

"That's Dr. Hewlett to you." Came a female voice.

"Blah. Cortana's ready, so get down here." Jacobs said. "And her eyes are blue, I win the bet!"

Cortana slowly turned herself so she could sit with her legs hanging off the edge.

"Sarah is going to come down and help you through… some of the finer aspects of being human." Jacobs said, face turning red slightly at the pause.

"You put me in a human body?" Cortana asked - out of surprise rather than seriously not knowing the answer to the question.

"You were going to crash within the hour." Jacobs said. "We kind of figured that might happen, so we brought this stuff with us." Jacobs turned to the Elite. "What are the odds; our first shot at an experiment and it's a complete success!"

Cortana's eyes widened. She was thinking of so many things at once that she never actually formed the complete thought: She was **not** going to crash! She had decades of life now! She was human! And that meant… John…

"Helloooooo??" Jacobs asked, waving his hands in front of Cortana's face.

"Oh, sorry, just… this is a lot to take in." Cortana said slowly.

The door opened suddenly, and a blonde woman in a white coat walked in. Her nametag read 'Dr. Hewlett."

"Cortana?" Hewlett asked.

"Right here." Cortana said, raising her hand a little.

"Can you walk?" Hewlett asked, already taking hold of Cortana to help her off the stretcher.

Cortana stumbled a little, but managed to maintain balance.

"Whew, good, I was worried we'd even have to teach you **that**." Jacobs said.

"Well her mind's already mature, she's not a baby. She just needs a minute or two of practice." Hewlett replied.

"Could we not talk about me like I'm not in the room?" Cortana asked.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Jacobs said in the time it would take a normal person to say 'sorry' once.

Hewlett put a hand on Cortana's shoulder and the other on her stomach and helped her walk out of the room.

"You still remember what humans need to do to survive, right?" Hewlett asked.

"Yes." Cortana replied.

"Good. I'll just help you a little in the physical aspect of it all." Hewlett said. "Don't worry, I'm a doctor."

"I've pretty much been naked all my life, modesty isn't really an issue." Cortana said.

Hewlett laughed. "Well, now you can smack guys for ogling you. I'll be sure to teach you that too."

"Where's Master Chief?" Cortana asked, careful to still keep 'professional' about her relationship with him until she finally got a chance to talk to him.

"He's with Major Johnson on the Bridge, I think. Working on some kind of strategy against the Flood." Hewlett replied.

"The Flood??" Cortana exclaimed.

"Later, later." Hewlett said. "First let's teach you how to keep yourself alive."


	6. Division of Labor

The past three months had been very slow, comprised mainly of formulating theoretical plans against the Flood infestation on Earth, and getting status reports from Dr. Jacobs about Cortana. Perhaps the most memorable part of the whole trip was a mere few hours after John and Major Johnson left Dr. Jacobs to do his work. Cortanas' screams could be heard through half the ship. The resultant bickering between Jacobs and the Elite scientist – Edo 'Ralkash, according to him – was then heard through half the ship once Jacobs gave Cortana the knockout gas.

The experience was very weird. John knew hearing Cortana scream in that kind of pain would be rather hard for him to listen to, to say the least, but the fact that Cortanas' 'voice' had changed made it seem like this wasn't her at all. That's not to say that he was therefore indifferent to hearing someone scream in pain; rather, it didn't make him feel as sick as he knew it should have. If Cortana would ever be stable enough to remain conscious without screaming this whole situation would take a lot of getting used to.

The _Righteous Fury_ had left Earth seven months ago. Radio contact had a range of one week out, given top speed travel. The news at last transmission was that a Pelican had been stolen by the Flood from the infected Lake Michigan base, and that Banshees were en route to intercept it. Radio contact was lost before any news could be given.

Radio contact returned a week ago, and the news was every bit as grim as feared.

The Flood infestation had spread to all corners of the globe. Quarantines were set up in and around dozens of major cities, and Flood often found ways to break through and spread. They had a habit of going into hiding, making small strikes against UNSC Marines and Elites to gain weapons, and then going for all out strikes against a section of containment field. The fact that all Flood infestations managed to devise the exact same strategy in every quarantine made some people theorize that a second Gravemind was developing somewhere on Earth.

The _Righteous Fury_ now floated in orbit above the Earth's atmosphere, preparing to 'dock' at Space Station _Erebus_. The Marines and Elites were getting suited up, but they hadn't received formal orders yet.

The _Erebus_ was a new breed of space station, able to accommodate both UNSC and Elite ships. Elite ships primarily used their gravity lifts for entering and exiting, so the _Erebus_ and similar space stations compensated by having a shielded top. Atmosphere could be contained within the shield, allowing for the use of the gravity lifts as if the ship was hovering over a planets' surface.

John and Major Johnson stood on the Bridge, looking very out of place surrounded by terminals with Elites standing around them. But aside from the different color scheme and crew species, the Bridge had a very similar feel to one in a UNSC ship.

A human face suddenly appeared on screen. A young male officer, obviously only in charge of overseeing docking procedures because most of the work either fell on the starship captains or the space station's automated systems.

"We are ready to return your soldiers." The Elite Captain said.

"Sure thing." The Officer said, saluting once he saw Major Johnson in the background. "Major, I've been instructed to tell you to get all the Marines, and Master Chief if he can, straight to the Pelican docking bays."

"Understood, we're on our way." Johnson said.

The screen turned off, and Johnson walked up to the control panel under it. He pressed a button, which activated the speaker systems for the ship.

"All UNSC personnel return to the _Erebus_. Marines, head straight for the Pelican bays. Everyone else, orders will be provided once on the station. Johnson out."

* * *

It had been a mildly awkward 24 hours, but Dr. Hewlett had helped Cortana through all the things humans had to do that AI Constructs did not. She also had time to herself over the past day, which she mostly spent staring at herself in the mirror and thinking. What would John's reaction be? Should she change her name to something a little more human? What would her job be with the UNSC now? Was First Lieutenant her rank now or was it the first uniform in her size that they could find? She had so much on her mind that she elected to sleep on the stretcher in the science wing so nobody would interrupt her. 

Now she was sitting on the stretcher, facing the wall, with Dr. Hewlett behind her doing her hair. The reflective metal the Elites were so fond of building everything out of made do for a mirror.

"Okay, all combed. So you want it long at the front and getting shorter as you go back?" Hewlett asked.

"Just like my hologram, yes." Cortana replied.

Hewlett went to work cutting Cortanas' hair.

"So… what's my job going to be now?" Cortana asked.

"I have no idea, something like you has never happened before." Hewlett replied. "Do you remember anything, you know, technical?"

"I still know my way around a computer system." Cortana said.

"Well bring that up when Major Johnson talks to you about this." Hewlett said. "I really wouldn't worry too much about it. It's not like the UNSC is just going to ditch you so you have to get a job at some convenience store."

"Ha, yeah, I suppose." Cortana said with a smile.

"Okay, done." Hewlett said, wiping the cut hair off Cortana's shoulders. "What do you think?"

"Great, thanks." Cortana replied

Suddenly, Johnson's voice rang out through the intercom.

"All UNSC personnel return to the _Erebus_. Marines, head straight for the Pelican bays. Everyone else, orders will be provided once on the station. Johnson out."

Cortanas' eyes widened a little. She hadn't had a chance to talk to John yet, and already they were sending him right back out.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be fine." Hewlett said.

"…what do you mean?" Cortana asked cautiously.

"Oh please, you totally freeze every time anyone says either 'Master' or 'Chief'." Hewlett said with an appraising smile. "You really have to learn how to hide your emotions better."

Cortana got off the stretcher, face slightly red.

"Come on, let's find Major Johnson, maybe he'll want you to come along with the Marines." Hewlett suggested.

Cortana and Dr. Hewlett ran down the halls towards the gravity lift. Thankfully the science wing wasn't too far from the gravity lift.

Both Cortana and Hewlett were forced to screech to a halt once they got to the gravity lift bay. Dozens of Marines and other UNSC personnel were crowding the room. Hewlett groaned.

"First Lieutenant coming through, urgent information, step aside!" She yelled.

Everyone turned in surprise, but on seeing Cortana's uniform created a path for her to the lift with no trouble.

"Is that really my rank?" Cortana asked, jogging with Hewlett to the lift.

"Who cares, they don't know you." Hewlett replied.

Cortana and Hewlett descended from the _Righteous Fury_ to the _Erebus_. It was a very odd experience. All around them was the emptiness of space, with Earth looming eerily close to one side and the moon on the other. The _Erebus_ was slowly getting closer, so the whole experience gave a feeling that you shouldn't move a muscle lest you somehow knock yourself out of the gravity lift and start hopelessly orbiting the Earth forever.

From above they could see Major Johnson in the small crowd of UNSC Marines and personnel, walking to the exterior doors into the station itself.

Cortana and Hewlett touched down, and right away ran for Johnson.

"Major! Sir!" Cortana yelled.

Johnson turned around and laid eyes on Cortana. He looked confused for a moment before realizing who this was.

"You're not screaming anymore!" He said as Cortana and Hewlett stopped in front of him. "Slow down, where's the fire?"

"Where's the Chief?" Cortana asked.

Johnson tilted his head slightly at the question. "He's on his way to the Pelicans, why?"

"I'd like to come with, I want to help." Cortana said.

"Well that's out of the question, Cortana. We're going to a Flood-infested UNSC base off the coast of Britain." Johnson said. "Last I checked you had no combat training."

"Please, sir, there must be something I can do." Cortana said, in more of a pleading tone than she'd have liked.

Johnson looked her over curiously.

"Sir, if I may, Cortana still remembers more about computer systems than most tech boys I know." Hewlett interjected. "Surely she can be of some use if the Flood have gotten into the security programs."

"Well I'm sure as hell not risking putting you down there, Cortana, no matter how dedicated an employee you are." Johnson said. "But there's something you could do. There's going to be a Prowler flying in the atmosphere above the base for air support and intel. You can man some of the intel systems there."

Cortana knew she was lucky that Johnson even offered this much.

"Thank you, sir." Cortana said.

"Sir, if I may, I'd like to accompany Cortana for the time being." Hewlett said. "You assigned me to help her get used to being human, and-"

"Fine, fine, go. I'm in a hurry here." Johnson interrupted. "The Prowler is docked in Level 6, Bay 4."

"Thank you, sir." Cortana said again, giving a salute.

Johnson returned it, and walked back towards the door.

"Why'd you tell him that?" Cortana asked, turning to Hewlett. "I said I remember some stuff, not that I still know more than the people who have been trained for it."

"Oh come on, you have to press like three buttons and the rest is automatic." Hewlett replied. "Major Johnson needs some proof that you're still a capable member of the UNSC, and manning a spot on a starship's Bridge is a quick way to do it."

"I suppose." Cortana said.

"And don't worry about Master Chief." Hewlett said. "He's done this a hundred times by himself, and now he'll have dozens of Marines to help him."


	7. It's Pronounced 'Grassay'

Space Station _Erebus_ spared every possible expense when it came to making a person feel welcome. Most of the walls were sheet metal with thick bolts running up and down them every few feet, with a steel girder here and there for some purpose known only to the people who designed the station. Lighting came in the form of ceiling panels that matched the shape of the sheet metal ceilings, making a _sheet, sheet, sheet, light, sheet, sheet, sheet, light_ pattern. The floors were of a light grey plating similar to ceramic tile, and the arrows and directions painted on them every so often were the only major sources of color along any given hallway.

John led about 20 Marines down the halls towards the Pelican docking bays. Major Johnson had apparently been stopped along the way, as he wasn't with them.

Soon they came to a door marked Bay 1 and, about 50 feet down the hall, another door marked Bay 1. They opened into the same room. The door opened automatically and John led the Marines inside.

The doors actually opened to the 'second floor' of the bay. It was a balcony, designed for Pelicans to hover in front of so Marines could board quickly. Down below on the actual floor crewmen and officers were busy amongst crates and racks of supplies and weapons. There were also one or two Elites down there, holding loaded weapons in their hands and looking them over curiously while seemingly high-strung officers watched nervously, their eyes silently pleading the Elites to not hold their fingers against the triggers so hard.

There were no Pelicans in the bay though. Normally they would be docked in their mounts hanging from the ceiling, but these mounts were empty.

"Are we in the right bay?" A Marine asked.

Before John could answer, Major Johnson walked in. Right away he noticed the lack of Pelicans.

"Oh holy hell." He said, pressing his headset. "I said Level 4, Bay 6!"

Johnson walked in front of John and the Marines. A keen eye would point out how close he was to the edge of the railingless balcony, but no one bothered. One would also point out that his cigar violated the 'no smoking in the docking bays or armories' rule, but that would be suicide.

"Well we'll be here a minute, since those idiots sent the Pelicans to Level 6 Bay 4 or Level 6 Bay 9 or some other perverse number, so here's the mission." Johnson said. "We'll be flying to UNSC-11. It's a research station built on a man-made island off the coast of Britain. Flood bastards managed to steal some Hornets and break through the quarantine around Falmouth, and they found their way there."

The relative silence of the bay was suddenly broken as two Pelicans flew through the air shield outside the bay, their vertical thrusters echoing in the bay and almost drowning out Johnson.

"Our job is to clear the Flood out of there!" Johnson yelled over the thrusters. "More when we arrive! Two squads, ten of you in that one and ten of you in the other! Go!"

Johnson pointed at John, and then at the Pelican he himself was not getting into. John would be leading one of the squads, it seemed.

John climbed into the Pelican and walked into the internal passenger bay, as the outside one couldn't be sealed for space travel. He looked back and watched as Marines picked who they wanted their leader to be. Cortana once told John that you could tell a lot about a person based on his willingness to follow John into battle. John was a Spartan, and hero of the UNSC, but he had a habit of going into missions with a squad and returning alone. So a jump to join his squad either meant that the Marine had a death wish, or he was conceited and thought that he could do anything John could. John asked why it wasn't possible that the Marines would want to join him for the privilege of helping him in battle, and Cortana replied 'Because that's stupid and only happens in those inspirational recruitment videos with the half naked girl on the cover.'

Cortana had always been a ray of sunshine like that. John wondered if her personality would change much if the experiment was successful.

Ten Marines soon filled the internal passenger bay, and the pilot pressed the button to close and seal the door.

"Waiting on Major Johnson, sir." The female pilot said. All of her features were hidden by her uniform and helmet.

They didn't have to wait long. "Move out!" Johnson barked over the comm.

"Yes, sir." The pilot replied.

* * *

Cortana and Dr. Hewlett had taken the lift to Level 6, and were now walking to Bay 4. Bays 1 through 3 were no more than 100 feet apart, but Bay 4 was designed to accommodate even the biggest of starships. It was a rather long walk to get to Bay 4, which was actually nothing more than an extendable hallway to connect with a starship's doors.

Eventually they found Bay 4. An officer was standing in front of it, holding a clipboard and checking off people as they boarded.

"Hey. Er… I'm-" Cortana began.

"Major Johnson sent word, go on in." The officer said. "Kept your hair the same, I see."

"You know you love it." Cortana replied, and walked down the hall with Hewlett.

"All psyched up? Anxious, dizzy, throwing up?" Hewlett asked.

"I'll be fine." Cortana said with a smirk. "I just hope I remember everything I need to."

They entered the Prowler itself and looked around. It was much like every other UNSC starship, only slightly more aesthetically appealing than the _Erebus_. They had taken the front entrance, so the Bridge was just a few dozen feet to the left. They walked down the hall and entered the Bridge.

Three terminals were on either side of the Bridge, with two more terminals at the front. The transparent display screen was in the middle, with the shipboard AI terminal in front of it. All but one of the terminals – the middle one of the right hand side – were occupied by officers. The captain – a man in his early 30's with short brown hair and brown eyes – turned to look at Cortana and Hewlett. The two quickly saluted.

"Oh, good! We needed a shipboard AI!" The captain said with a smile and a French accent.

Cortana wasn't sure how to take the statement.

"Kidding, kidding. I'm Captain Grassé. Welcome aboard the _Flapjack_." The captain said.

"…flapjack?" Hewlett asked.

"The guy who named it… I don't know, he was drunk." Grassé said with a sigh. "Too much paperwork to change it now."

"What do you want me to do, sir?" Cortana asked.

"You'll be on one of the radar stations." Grassé replied. "Seat is there, if you could take it. Dr. Hewlett, just don't get in the way, and you can be the eye candy."

Hewlett's face just screamed 'I want to hit you.'

"Kidding!" Grassé exclaimed. "Americans have no sense of humor!"

Cortana just shook her head and sat down at the terminal. Hewlett walked over and leaned against the wall beside the terminal, as there was only one seat there.

"Remember enough about this?" Hewlett whispered.

"Sure, this is the easiest station." Cortana replied.

And that it was. Scanning for the most part was completely automatic, and anything of any urgency was automatically put on the captain's screen. All Cortana really had to do was point out any minor things that came on screen and transfer what was on her screen to the captains' should he ask.

"Alright people, listen up." Grassé said loudly, making everyone turn to look at him. "Major Johnson is leading a strike on UNSC-11 to clear out the Flood infestation. Much of the base is topside, and since the Flood always manage to shoot down our aircraft and fly them themselves, we're going to be providing air support. We're to fly above UNSC-11 and fire upon what Major Johnson tells us to, as well as detect Flood that the squads may not see and warn them of them. Are we good to go?"

"On your order, sir." An officer replied.

"Alright, take us out." Grassé said.


	8. Out of the frying pan

The 10 Marines in John's squad were a politically correct 5 men and 5 women. They sat on opposite sides of the Pelican, making it look like an odd game show of some kind.

"Hold tight, we're entering the atmosphere." The pilot said. A moment later the Pelican shook lightly, and the cockpit was lit up with bright yellow fire.

"Woo fireball!" A Marine cheered.

After a minute of that UNSC-11 came into view. It was noon and cloudless, so the surrounding ocean was almost blinding in how it sparkled. UNSC-11 was clearly a man-made island, as it was a perfect octagon and all non-built land was flat and golf-course-green.

Even from above the signs of Flood infestation were clear. Huge bulbous masses of flesh were growing randomly out of the buildings like tumors, and as the Pelican got closer it became clear that UNSC-11 had been consumed by the musky, living dust that seemed to follow the Flood everywhere.

"Oh look, look at that idiot." The pilot said, looking out the side of the cockpit to the other Pelican. "Yeah, yeah, I see you." She waved. John looked, and Johnson was there overzealously raising his fist like a cavalry leader charging into battle.

The proximity alarms suddenly went off.

"We're being targeted! Brace yourselves!" The pilot yelled.

The Flood had apparently figured out how to work UNSC-11's missile turrets, and had opened fire. A volley of six rockets screeched up from the base at the Pelicans.

The pilot jerked the controls to the left, and the Marines sitting on the left side fell to the floor as the Pelican sharply strafed that way, evading the offending rockets. Johnson's Pelican too managed to evade them.

"They'll be able to fire another volley before we can land, sir!" The pilot yelled. John said nothing.

This time twelve rockets screeched up from the base, as the Flood commandeered more missile turrets. The proximity alarms went off again, and the Marines scrambled to strap themselves in. None of them could do it in time, and again they were thrown about the Pelican as it jerked hard to the left, narrowly avoiding the rockets.

Johnson's Pelican, however, wasn't so lucky. It took a rocket to the right wing and harshly spun to the right. Its nose struck John's Pelican's wing, and the Pelican jerked to the left.

The pilot pushed the controls as far as they would go to the right, trying to get the Pelican back on course, but the wing of the nose of the other Pelican was stuck in their wing. The two Pelicans were in virtual freefall, spinning clockwise.

Then, another rocket hit. It connected with the wing and the other Pelican's nose and blasted them apart. John could feel his feet lift the ground as the Pelican flipped upside down, and everything went black.

------------------------------------

John woke up to the sound of MA5B's and shotguns going off. Through a brown haze could see clear skies above him, with a Prowler taking up about an inch of space in the distance.

John slowly managed to get to his feet. He was more or less aware of the Flood surrounding them but not quite conscious enough to do anything about it.

"SIR!!!" One of the Marines screamed at him.

The Pelican was an unidentifiable twisted heap of metal. The broken bodies of Marines lay everywhere. The only survivors were three Marines, who were desperately firing at the oncoming Flood, and the pilot.

There was perfectly level green grass all around them, with an equally flat cement floor ahead of them, leading to several concrete bunkers and towers. The missile turrets had been destroyed, apparently from pulse laser fire from the Prowler, and now Flood were coming for them in small, rather unorganized groups.

John grabbed an MA5B from the ground and unloaded on an oncoming group of Flood. They continued to advance even as their limbs and chunks of their bodies were blasted off, and only fell when they were literally broken in two. The next target was a swarm of Spores, which exploded in a large wave as the first couple of them were blasted apart. They sent a thick cloud of brown dust into the air as they exploded, adding to what was already there.

Still, a few managed to take refuge in some fallen Flood, and after a few seconds those Flood rose up again, charging without limbs and even without heads. John and the Marines opened fire on them, and they once again fell to the ground, even more twisted and broken than before.

Now all was silent, save for the ever present gurgling of nearby Flood and the ringing in John's ears. The musky brown dust of the Flood was now coupled with black smoke from the muzzles of the overused guns.

"Okay…" One Marine said. "That'll do it for, oh I don't know, the next two **minutes**?? We're done for!!"

There were two male Marines left and one female, and the pilot was female as well. According to their tags the men were Pvt. O'Donnell, Pvt. Richards, and the woman was Pvt. Walsh. The pilot didn't have any visible identification.

"We have to get out of the open. Grab as much as you can carry and get to that structure." John said, motioning towards the nearest building.

John and the pilot carried most of the weapons, leaving the Marines to jog to the bunker and make sure it was clear. It was impossible to rely on hearing the Flood, as though there was gurgling, it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

The structure was small and only contained one room. Everyone entered, and John closed the door.

It appeared to be a medical supply room. There were no windows and only one light. The walls were lined with shelves of medical supplies, books, and the like. There was a table set up in the middle of the room, but that was it for furniture.

The pilot put the guns she was carrying on the table, and from there went straight to the corner, where she got down, tossed her helmet aside, held her knees in her arms, and buried her face in her arms.

"We're done, we're finished, we're screwed, we're fucked, it's over!!" Richards said in increasing volume.

"Quiet!!" Walsh yelled. "If we make too much noise they'll hear us!"

"Oh, and what, who cares if they hear us?" Richards yelled. "The Major's dead, we have no radio, the Prowler can't hear us, all they can do is float there and watch us **die**…"

"Shut up!!" Walsh demanded.

"What difference does it make if those things barge in here in five minutes or ten? We have just as much chance either way!"

" **SHUT THE HELL UP!!**"

Everyone turned to look at the pilot, whose face was red and wet with tears. There was silence for a few seconds, and then she went back to burying her face in her arms.

"Johnson's squad?" John finally asked.

"They probably went down, we just don't know where." O'Donnell said. "We're all that survived the crash."

John looked over what was on the table: three MA5B's, three shotguns, eight grenades, and three M6D sidearms. This was in addition to the three MA5B's and one shotgun that between them someone was already holding.

"She's got a sidearm too." O'Donnell said, motioning towards the pilot. "We've got enough here to hold out for quite a while. I say we just hole up here and wait for reinforcements."

"Our first priority is to find Major Johnson's crash site and bring any survivors back here." John said. "We could also get to one of the communication towers and contact the Prowler."

Suddenly, a low hum could be heard, coming from deep below their feet.

"What's that?" Walsh asked.

"I think that's the station's reactors." O'Donnell replied. "The Flood just turned something on."


	9. Only Human

"We're entering the atmosphere now, sir." One of the officers said.

"Good, good." Captain Grassé said. "Take us as close as you can, we can't afford any loss in accuracy to distance."

"Yes, sir."

"Lieutenant, status on the Pelicans?" Grassé asked.

Dr. Hewlett quickly nudged Cortana with her elbow.

"They're a few thousand feet above UNSC-11 and closing, sir." Cortana said, mildly confused, before remembering that she was in a Lieutenant uniform. She knew that if she was still an actual construct she wouldn't have forgotten this. She was quickly realizing what it meant to be 'only human.'

"Good. Gunners, stand by." Grassé continued. "I need a map on screen, now."

Cortana pressed a few buttons to transmit all the information on her screens to the Captain's, and she heard the Officer on the terminal on the other side of the Bridge do the same.

There were multiple Flood life signs all over the surface of the base, not allowing for any visible landing zone for the Pelicans. The plans of the installation showed multiple anti-air turrets, and the scanners indicated that most of them were still operational.

Grassé noticed this the moment the information hit his screen. "Open fire on the turrets closest to the Pelicans and work your way out." He ordered.

Suddenly, the scanners indicated that one of the Pelicans had taken damage.

"One of the Pelicans has taken a hit, sir!" The other radar Officer said. "It's taken… both of them, sir, both of them have been hit!"

_John!!_ Cortana's mind raced.

"Keep firing on the turrets, there's nothing else we can do from up here." Grassé ordered, watching the radar blips that represented turrets disappear one by one.

"Both of them have spun out, they're going to crash!" Cortana exclaimed.

"Plot where they're going to hit and put it on screen!" Grassé replied.

Cortana hastily did that, hearing the other Officer begin to do so a second sooner and finish several seconds faster. Only one of them actually had to do it, but both radar Officers were expected to do it to help eliminate the possibility that one of the terminals or scanners were somehow defective and giving faulty information.

Cortana was visibly strained already, a mix of having to think back on how to do what she was asked, and being unable to think of anything but John.

"Calm down, you can do this." Dr. Hewlett whispered.

Cortana just wiped her forehead in response, having trouble thinking clearly. All she had to do was watch over John like she had done a hundred times before and she was failing miserably.

"Change target to the estimated crash zones." Grassé ordered. "Avoid destroying structures as best you can, they'll need cover once they land."

"Both Pelicans have hit, sir!" The Officer said.

"Life signs?" Grassé asked.

"Only five remain in either one, sir." Cortana blurted.

"The Chief?" Grassé asked.

"Can't distinguish between him and anyone else from this range, sir." The other Officer replied.

Cortana buried her face in her hands, her mind racing. If there were ten Marines per Pelican and now five were dead in each, it was a coin toss if John was alive or not. Wait, no, there was also a pilot to each Pelican, so if there were only five life signs per, that meant that 12 of the 22 were dead. That meant a…

Cortana grew even more worried and frustrated with herself that she couldn't figure out the odds that John was alive in her head. If she was still a construct she could have computed it instantly! Cortana was only vaguely aware of Dr. Hewlett nudging her again.

"Sir, I'm picking up a massive energy spike!" The other Officer yelled.

"The installation's shields?" Grassé asked.

Cortana glanced at her screens and realized right away what it was.

"Negative, sir, its 11's MAC gun!" She exclaimed.

"What? How could the Flood have figured out how to work that??" Grassé demanded.

They of course knew from the plans of UNSC-11 that it had a MAC gun for anti-air defense, but the Flood had never figured out how to use them so nobody expected it. One thing was painfully certain though, and that was that a round from a MAC would slice through the _Flapjack_ like butter.

"We're being targeted, sir!" The other Officer yelled out.

"Concentrate all fire on the MAC gun!" Grassé ordered. "How long until it's charged to fire?"

"It's already at 95; they must have put the installation's defenses on standby before we got here!" The other Officer said.

"My god…" Grassé said, before activating the ship's communications channel. "…brace for impact!"

Cortana grabbed hold of her console. "Go strap yourself in!" She yelled to Dr. Hewlett and pointed out into the hallway. Hewlett nodded and ran out.

"How long until-" Grassé began.

The _Flapjack_ suddenly shook violently, and a deafening blast was heard only for a second before nothing could be heard at all. Cortana's head slammed hard into the radar terminal, and then she fell off the chair, bounced off the ground, and rolled across the floor. The red alarms flashed, doing nothing but add to the disorientation everyone was experiencing.

After a few seconds Cortana's hearing returned. She was face down on the floor, and in front of her she could see a splash of fresh blood. Her head was pounding, and it seemed hard to move at all.

Everyone slowly dragged themselves to their terminals.

"Status report!" Grassé demanded.

"We've lost everything behind the Third Parallel, sir; we've literally been sliced in half!" An officer yelled.

There were three imaginary divisions in the ship, called Parallels, so divide the ship into quarters.

"Emergency seals have already activated."

"We've lost all weapons and we're running on 30 power, not that it'll do any good since we just had our engines sliced off!" Another officer yelled.

"The MAC has begun to recharge!" The other radar Officer added.

Grassé wiped his brow. Everyone was staring at him, waiting to give the order they already knew was coming.

"...abandon ship." Grassé slowly said.

Immediately everyone jumped from their terminals and ran down the hallway. Cortana did her best to keep up, but she was getting increasingly dizzy.

"All hands, abandon ship. Repeat, abandon ship!" Grassé called through the comm. channels.

"Holy hell Cortana!" Dr. Hewlett yelled over the alarms once she saw Cortana.

"What?!" Cortana yelled in confusion.

"You… never mind, come on!" Hewlett replied.

Cortana and Dr. Hewlett ran down the halls towards the escape pods, alongside a growing number of other deckhands.

Cortana wasn't thinking of John at this point. She wasn't thinking of anything that could be expressed in words. The fact that she was dizzy and in severe pain all over was barely registering. All she could think of was getting to an escape pod. And yet, in the back of her mind, she knew that if she was a construct she would still be formulating complete and logical thoughts.

Cortana and Dr. Hewlett got to the escape pods and crammed into the nearest one. It quickly filled with other deckhands, filling all the seats in just a few seconds.

The last officer in slammed the door behind him. "GO!!" He screamed at the pilot. There was a brief _hiss_ as the chamber pressurized and life-support kicked in, and the escape pod exploded out of the _Flapjack_ and into the very edges of Earth's atmosphere.

"Jesus Cortana!" Hewlett said, wiping Cortana's forehead with a cloth she retrieved from her pocket. Cortana had no idea what Hewlett was doing until she noticed that the cloth was quickly coated in blood. When she hit the radar terminal she must have cut herself on the screen.

The pilot of the escape pod quietly cursed to herself over and over. They had escaped death in the _Flapjack_ but were flying straight for another, for the only possible crash site in range was right there on UNSC-11. They were about to land in the middle of a Flood infestation.


	10. The Pods

A loud, electric squeal pieced the air for but an instant, starting as an explosion of sound and quickly fading back to quiet. John and the Marines instinctively looked around, though it was a fairly useless act since there were no windows.

"That was a MAC shot." O'Donnell said needlessly, as all of them save perhaps the pilot had heard that sound before. "The Flood got to the MAC gun!"

They all knew that no UNSC ship could survive a direct hit from a MAC. It was the equivalent of a shotgun to the head at point blank. If the _Flapjack_ took the shot, it was plummeting towards them at that very moment.

"Oh that's great, just great, now we're gonna have a whole STARSHIP fall on us!" Richards exclaimed. "Just when we couldn't be any more fucked now the huge guy in the back wants his turn!"

Walsh buried her face in her palm at this comment.

"If the _Flapjack_ took the hit there's going to be a rain of escape pods soon." O'Donnell said. "We have to move."

"…I'll check. Wait here." John said.

"Like HELL we're just gonna wait for-" Richards began, but immediately stopped talking once John opened the door. Any sound now would attract Flood.

John raised his MA5B and cautiously stepped out into the world of brown fog. Once outside he gently pushed the door closed, and stepped away from the structure to get a clear view of the sky.

The _Flapjack_ was several miles long, but it was so high up a penny could cover it up. Nevertheless, even from this range it was apparent that the ship had taken a MAC shot, as the back portion had broken off from the rest and was slowly drifting away. Though not visible at this range, escape pods surely had already left and would be there within a few minutes. John knew that given the height of the ship and the distance to the mainland, the only place the pilots of the pods could 'safely' land was right there on UNSC-11.

Suddenly, a single infected human stepped into view. John aimed at it, not wanting to fire and alert more Flood to them. So he stood motionless as the infected human slowly lurched towards the pod. It seemed to be looking for survivors.

The infected human walked right up to the pod. It stopped in front of the pod and just stood there, motionless save for the twitching of its' skin. John stared at it, equally motionless, reluctant to open fire.

After almost a minute of this, John reached behind him and slowly turned the knob. Eyes locked on the infected human, he opened the door, sidestepped inside, and quietly closed it.

"…what-" Richards began.

John hastily held up a hand to silence him. Richards closed his mouth, and John listened carefully for the infected human outside.

Once he was sure that the infected human hadn't come any closer, John lowered his hand.

"The _Flapjack_ took a MAC shot; it's been cut in half." John said. "The escape pods will be landing here soon, so we have to rescue any survivors before the Flood get to them."

Even Richards didn't have any argument here. Men are not left behind. The pilot, however, buried her head in her arms at this news.

"…maybe one of us should just stay behind with her and a shotgun and wait for rescue?" O'Donnell asked.

"No. We've already lost half our team, so we need everyone." John replied. "You have small arms training, right?"

The pilot looked up and nodded.

"Good." John said. "Everyone suit up, we're taking all of this. Use the shotguns and M6D's first; MA5Bs just annoy these things."

John wondered what kind of rescue or new orders would be given now that UNSC-11 had a hostile MAC. Hornets and Pelicans could be there from the mainland within the hour, though in terms of the escape pods that meant nothing. Pelicans from _Erebus_ could be there in much less time, but would the UNSC risk even more aircraft when everything sent so far had been shot down? Unlikely. Once they got to one of the radio towers the order would probably be to go into UNSC-11 and shut down the MAC so reinforcements could safely be sent.

The squad, now suited up, stood at attention. Richards, O'Donnell, and Walsh had shotguns, the pilot had an M6D, and John kept his MA5B. The rest of the weapons were slung around someone's shoulder.

"Don't speak unless absolutely necessary, we can't afford to draw attention to ourselves." John said.

With that, John slowly opened the door and walked outside. The infected human that was poking around the crashed Pelican had gone, and nothing else was in sight. John slowly stepped out into open view, with the squad following.

The escape pods were in clear view now. They had already completed re-entry and would impact in just a few seconds. John was able to count five, though there were probably more approaching at an angle obstructed from view by the surrounding structures.

O'Donnell raised his arm and pointed at the escape pod that would likely land nearest to them. It soared above the structures, the airbrakes broke off, and it crashed behind a distant structure to the deafening sound of smashing concrete against tortured metal. This was quickly joined by similar crashes from the other pods that had begun to land.

The ever present slow gurgling of the Flood infestation grew much louder and more hostile. Every Flood form on the surface and the floor directly below would likely be drawn to the noise.

"Move." John said, quickly having realized the futility of trying to keep quiet.

John ran for the crash site of the nearest pod, the squad following suit. Infected humans and spores had already begun coming out of structures, so drawn to the loud noises that they either ignored or didn't notice John's squad right there.

Richards, O'Donnell, and Walsh raised their shotguns in unison and rivaled the noise of the pods crashing as they blasted apart the nearest infected humans. The pilot had also begun to open fire on the nearest Flood.

"Keep moving!" John yelled, slowing his pace to a walk so he too could open fire.

The Flood now took notice of the more pressing threat of John's squad, and charged for them, tentacles flailing and gurgling angrily.

"Up high!" Walsh yelled, alerting the squad to Flood forms leaping at them from the top of structures. Shotguns went off and ripped through the Flood as they fell, creating a rain of burnt, rotting flesh. John held the trigger down and somewhat lazily waved at an oncoming wave of spores, creating a chain reaction that 'popped' them all in one big wave.

Flood forms were closing in on the pod's crash site.

"Move!" John yelled, but the Flood forms were unending. They continued to come out from around corners, pour out of structures, and seemingly just appeared from nowhere. From the direction of the crash site, John could faintly hear gunshots and screams. Most of the Flood advanced from that direction, seemingly aware of their desire to rescue the survivors.

"Reloading!" Richards and O'Donnell yelled in unison.

The absence of the two shotguns allowed the Flood forms to come that much closer. The pilot screamed in terror, backing away from oncoming Flood as she dropped them one by one.

"Down!!" Walsh yelled, throwing a grenade at the Flood between them and the crash site.

A delay of a couple seconds, then a deafening explosion. The frail Flood forms were reduced to small chunks and a wet mucky dust that joined the rest of the brown atmosphere, while Flood forms further away were simply torn apart.

Richards and O'Donnell finished reloading, and the oncoming Flood seemed to be thinning. John continued to rip apart Flood forms with his MA5B, the pilot had begun to reload, and the three marines killed one or even two forms per shot.

The screams from the crash site had stopped.

"Run!" John yelled, and took off for the pod. A few individual forms tried to mount an attack, but were quickly blasted away by a shotgun.

John came around the corner and found the crash site. The pod had apparently bounced off the concrete, marked by a small crater in the ground, and drilled into one of the structures. The pod had set something in the structure on fire, as the main floor of it was emitting black smoke. There were no survivors in sight, and several spores and infected humans stood there, seemingly waiting for John's squad to arrive.

John and the squad quickly dispatched these few Flood. They turned around to face where they came, and about a dozen Flood forms were still in pursuit. These Flood were just as easily blasted apart, and finally all was relatively quiet.

John quickly looked his squad over. Aside from being more or less covered in bits of rotting flesh from the Flood, they were fine.

John turned his attention to the pod. The back end was still sticking out of the structure. John looked inside the structure through the gaping hole the pod created. Inside were the bodies of three Marines and five officers of various ranks. John slowly stepped inside the structure and motioned for the squad to follow.

The fire had come from some computer terminals that the pod crashed into. The structure was entirely concrete though, so once the fire ate through the wiring it would put itself out.

"That one's been infected!!" The pilot yelled.

One of the dead Marines had suddenly begun to violently convulse as the Flood infection took him over.

Walsh raised her shotgun, fired one shot, and the body once again fell silent.

"No survivors, sir." O'Donnell said, having turned over the last of the bodies. "The Marines all had side arms, but nothing else. I guess they didn't think they'd be dropped into this situation."

"Take them and let's go, we can't waste any time." John replied.


	11. Mistress Chief

The escape pod shook violently on re-entry.

Dr. Hewlett retrieved some bandages from her lab coat and began applying one to the gash on Cortana's forehead.

"That'll probably need stitches but this is the best we've got right now." Hewlett said.

Cortana stared with visible concern at her hand, which was covered in blood from merely wiping off her forehead.

"Don't worry, it doesn't take much blood to look like a lot, you'll be fine." Hewlett said reassuringly.

There were nine people in the escape pod: Cortana, Dr. Hewlett, the pilot, four Marines and three officers.

"Guys, the only landing zone in range is on the station. You're gonna have to come out fighting." The pilot said.

A feeling of dread overcame the pod. Two of the Marines had MA5Bs, the other two had M6D sidearms, and one of the officers had a sidearm of his own. It certainly wouldn't last them long, and the rest of them didn't have anything.

Cortana, not used to feeling fear, was more frustrated with herself for not being able to come up with the odds of survival for this situation. Back on Halo she could have come up with a percentage down to hundreds of decimal places. John constantly defied those odds and proved her wrong, of course, which was always a source of quiet amusement.

That, of course, lead Cortana to think about John, somewhere down on UNSC-11 fighting the Flood. Surely he was defying those odds once again. Surely he had already seen the pods falling and was telling the remainder of his squad to go rescue them one by one…

"Cortana!" Hewlett yelled. "Brace for impact!"

The view from the cockpit was obstructed, so there was no way of telling when the impact would occur.

--

Cortana slowly opened her eyes, and was greeted by a bare bulb hanging from the concrete ceiling. Her expression was blank, and she wasn't thinking anything. The only noise was a high-pitched ringing.

"Good, you're up." Dr. Hewlett said, snapping Cortana out of it.

Cortana quickly became aware of her throbbing forehead, and now the aching rest of her body.

"What? How did we get here?" Cortana asked.

Hewlett responded by shining a small flashlight directly into Cortana's eye.

"Gah! Away with that!" Cortana yelled, smacking it away and sitting up.

"MA'AM!!" A Marine yelled, "…shut up!"

They were in a small concrete room. A single bare light bulb hung from the ceiling for illumination. A table, a desk, and five chairs were all jammed up against the door. Aside from Hewlett and Cortana, there was only a female Marine and a male Officer in the room. Respectively, the tags read Sgt. Novikova, and 2Lt. Resso.

"Keep quiet; we're pretty much trapped down here." Hewlett said. "The pod crashed, everyone survived, and then we had to fight our way down here. We're all that made it."

"James and Nash would have made it if they weren't so busy trying to keep HER safe!" Resso said angrily, pointing at Cortana.

Novikova responded by giving Resso a hard backhand, blood visibly escaping his mouth from the impact.

"Armor!" Hewlett protested, pointing out the Kevlar plating of the Marine armor covering most of the back of the hand.

"I didn't see you do anything up there, _sir._" Novikova spat, clearly only adding the title because 2nd Lieutenants had to be addressed as such. "If we leave anybody behind here it'll be you."

"Our priority right now is to radio for help, not kill ourselves babysitting Dr. Jacob's latest experiment!" Resso protested, rubbing his cheek.

"You know, I hear it's hard to grow a whole adult body in a lab, and he's more than willing to fix up the recently killed." Novikova replied. At over 6 feet, towering over Resso in a noticeable Russian accent with two MA5Bs and two M6Ds, she was rather imposing. Resso backed off, choosing to wander aimlessly around the room.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Hewlett spoke up.

"I noticed this on the wall beside one of the fire extinguishers as we came down here." Hewlett said, patting a small medical supply kit. "So now your forehead has been stitched up. Four stitches; I doubt it'll leave a scar."

Cortana rubbed her forehead, feeling the stitches there.

"So what do we do now?" Cortana asked.

"The AI doesn't know what to do, that's great, excellent, that's progress…" Resso muttered to himself.

"My idea is just to get out there, kill anything that gets in our way, and get to one of the radio towers for help." Novikova said.

"Gonna go with an assault rifle in each hand?" Hewlett asked with a smirk, motioning to Novikova's two MA5Bs.

"If it comes to that." Novikova replied.

Cortana smiled a little. This woman was very similar to John.

"Actually, we were hoping you'd retained enough know-how of UNSC security to get on that computer and do something useful." Hewlett said, motioning to a desktop computer sitting on the floor in the corner. That was where the desk pushed against the door came from.

"…I'll see what I can do." Cortana said, finally getting to her feet.

Cortana sat down in front of the computer.

"See, the computer is on UNSC-11's network, but everything has a security clearance on it." Novikova said. "Between us we got clearance to look at the schematics of the base, but that's nothing we didn't already know."

Cortana nodded, already knowing this would be the first roadblock. She had always felt that a big hindrance on the UNSC's efficiency was the security clearances blocking everything from everyone. All it did was make it harder for anyone to get anything done. Besides, as Commander Miranda Keyes once did, all anyone had to do was tell a Smart AI Construct "I don't care if I have the clearance or not," since such a violation of the rules was generally overlooked if the higher-ups realize that the situation depended on it. Since that was the case, why even have them? Any serious enemy could hack a security clearance with very little trouble. To the Covenant, hacking a UNSC security clearance was as easy as a minor clicking 'Yes, I am over 18' at the entrance to a porn site.

"Well… let's try to get access to the security cameras." Cortana said. She input the command and was greeted by a request for the security access code. "Damn it." She said.

"Remember that one?" Hewlett asked.

"Trying to." Cortana said, rubbing her temples.

"Right, meditate, that'll help." Resso muttered.

"Shut up!!" Novikova yelled.

"Listen, I am still the ranking officer down here, so-"

Suddenly, a scratching at the door. Everyone jumped and turned to face the door, Novikova raising an MA5B.

The scratching continued. It was quiet, seemingly determined but very weak. From where the scratching was coming from the door, it was a single Spore. Everyone stood motionless and silent, listening to the quiet scratching.

Then, a second set of claws joined in, at the same height. Novikova gritted her teeth. In this silence, along with the quiet scratching, the quiet gurgling of the Flood infestation all around them became painfully audible. For a moment they had forgotten where they were, but now it was crystal clear.

Finally, the scratching stopped. Nobody moved, still watching the door.

After a couple of minutes, everyone slowly relaxed.

"…from now on, you shut up." Novikova said, pointing at Resso.

Cortana, meanwhile, smiled. "Got it!" She said, entering an access code she finally remembered. A list of all the security cameras in UNSC-11 came on screen. Several of them had a red exclamation point listed beside them, indicating that either there was a severed connection or the camera was disabled, but most of them were still operational.

"Ok, bringing up a map of UNSC-11…" Cortana said, "…now let's see what the path is like between us and the nearest radio tower."


	12. The Tower

John, O'Donnell, Richards, Walsh, and the pilot fought their way to two more escape pods

John, O'Donnell, Richards, Walsh, and the pilot fought their way to two more escape pods. One of them only had three bodies nearby and none of them were the pilot, but no survivors were found, regardless. Ammunition was scattered about the pods, keeping John and the squad armed.

John and the squad turned the corner and found another identical 'street', for lack of a better word, lined with grey concrete structures. One of them, however, had a large dish and several antennae on the roof, though the tops of them were barely visible through the ever-thickening Flood dust. It was one of the communications towers. There were also six Flood forms idly wandering the street.

"Sir?" O'Donnell asked.

"We call for help, then get back to the pods." John replied. "Go."

The squad rushed forward and blasted apart the Flood forms before they could react. Three more forms emerged from the structures and were dispatched just as easily. No other Flood came out though – it seemed most of the Flood on the surface had been in the first firefight.

They came to the door, which was open a crack. John pushed it open with one hand, and found only a wall there. To the right was a staircase going down, and to the left was a staircase going up.

"The control room will be on the top floor." Walsh whispered.

John took the lead in climbing the stairs. There was Flood and human blood on the walls, but nothing living of either. A fuse box was on the wall. The staircase turned and continued going up. After three flights of stairs and three more fuse boxes, they came to a door. John tried the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Locked?" O'Donnell asked.

"No, jammed." John replied.

John put his shoulder to the door and pushed it open.

The windows in the control room had been smashed from the outside, as broken glass was strewn about. Plenty of human blood was on the floor, but no body was there to claim it. Behind the door was a chair, which had been propped against the knob to hold the door shut.

"Someone was holding out in here, so the Flood climbed the wall and came in through the windows." Richards said. "We're done."

"Shut up!" Walsh yelled.

John went to the control panel. None of the lights were on. John randomly pressed some buttons and nothing happened.

"There's no power." John said.

"Could be some frayed wires in those fuse boxes, or something broken down below." Walsh said.

"You know about this stuff?" O'Donnell asked.

"I worked security in a comm. tower for a few months." Walsh replied.

"Ok then. You three stay here. Walsh, come with me." John ordered.

John and Walsh went back down the stairs and came to the first fuse box. It was locked.

"Damn it." Walsh said.

"If it's locked that means nobody could have gotten to it." John said.

"True, but if the whole tower got a power surge, the wires in here could have burnt out." Walsh replied. "We'll need to find the technician's key to open-"

John thrust his fingers into the crack between the door and casing, smoothly ripped the door off, and tossed it aside.

"…nice." Walsh said. She poked through the wires. "Nothing seems out of place here, let's keep going.

The rest of the fuse boxes checked out as well. That just left the basement. John took the lead.

The second John turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, he took an M6D round to the chest. John pushed Walsh back and ducked behind the corner.

"STAY BACK!!" A panicked voice yelled.

"It's ok, we're the rescue team!" Walsh yelled back.

John looked around the corner. There was a Marine seated against the far wall, his back against a large mainframe system. He had his face buried in his hands, sobbing. Three dead Marines were laying on the floor.

"The little crawling things got to them." The Marine wept. "Their skin was crawling, like it was alive, trying to get off them. I had to shoot them all."

"…sir." Walsh whispered to John, and pointed to the mainframe systems on either side. They had several bullet holes in them. "No wonder the tower isn't working."

"Can you fix it?" John asked.

"We'll see." Walsh replied, going to the system on the right. She popped the siding off and began examining the wires.

Suddenly, the Marine began to scream. A Spore had leapt out of one of the bodies and had speared him. John quickly rushed forward and smacked the Spore away, vaporizing it against his shielding.

The Marine continued to scream. The Spore had bitten his arm, and now his arm was violently spasming, the skin crawling and jerking just like the Marine described. John quickly raised his MA5B.

"No, you'll hit the terminal!" Walsh yelled.

John grabbed the Marine, tossed him facefirst into the middle of the room, and opened fire. The rounds tore a deep crevice up the Marine's back and to his head, which was blasted apart, splattering blood everywhere. John ceased fire, and silence.

Walsh just closed her eyes for a moment, sighed, and went back to her terminal.

"Nothing wrong here…" She said, and walked across the room to the other one. She popped the panel open, and a cloud of smoke lofted out. "Well, here's your problem." She said.

One of the bullets had ripped through some of the wires connecting one of the power supplies to the nearby components. The wires were left dangling and occasionally touched the sides, creating brief sparks and smoke.

"Can you fix it?" John asked.

"I don't know… it looks like the wires are color coded so I guess I could match them up." Walsh said. "First we need to cut the power… there, there's the conduit, flip that switch."

John slid the circuit breaker on the wall to the OFF position. Walsh carefully touched one of the wires against the siding, and no spark. With a sign of relief, Walsh went to work on the wires. She didn't have a soldering iron, so she had to strip the wire casings at the frayed ends and twist the wires themselves together.

"Hopefully that'll hold… now we just need to make sure those wires stay separated." Walsh said.

She went to one of the dead Marines and tore his sleeve off. She proceeded to rip the sleeve into large chunks, and stuffed them into the cluster of wires in a manner that would push the uninsulated parts away from each other and the siding.

"Ok, turn it back on." Walsh said.

John slid the circuit breaker ON, and to their relief there was no violent explosion.

"Let's see if it worked." John said, and led the way back up the stairs.

"It's us." Walsh said once they reached the top of the stairs.

"Alright, we're still here." O'Donnell replied. "Everything just came on. I've already set up to contact the _Erebus_."

John and Walsh walked in. O'Donnell motioned John to the speaker.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 to UNSC Space Station _Erebus_, please respond, over." John said, and awaited response.

"…guys…" The pilot suddenly said, looking out the window.

Everybody looked, and saw one of the halves of the _Flapjack_ had broken through the atmosphere. It picked up speed and crashed into the water just a few kilometers from _UNSC-11_. The room shook from the impact. As they watched, the resulting wave quickly reached the edge of _UNSC-11_. The water washed over the concrete, reaching what looked like a good seven feet high.

"The terminals!" Walsh yelled.

John ran out the door and down the stairs, clearing four or five at a time, leapt off the last few, and body-checked the door closed just as the water crashed against it. Water burst through the open crack. The door was made with this situation in mind, but they had neglected to close it. John put his feet against the far wall, pushed, and managed to fully close the door. He reached up with one hand and jammed the locking mechanism down, securing the door.

John looked down the stairs. Water had gotten through, but not much. By the time it poured down to the very bottom it wouldn't be enough to matter. John breathed a sign of relief and walked back up the stairs.


	13. Some Kind of Smart Bug

Cortana brought up the cameras for the path between where they were and the nearest communications tower. Flood forms and spores were sporadically strewn about, not organized in any way.

In the tower itself, the cameras revealed several dead marines in the basement, along with a severely damaged, haphazardly repaired terminal. The camera in the control room was offline.

"Alright, I've got the path planned." Cortana said.

Novikova and Resso walked over to look at the screen.

"…what are we looking at?" Novikova asked.

"…oh, hang on." Cortana said, hands a blur over the keyboard. She brought up a map of UNSC-11, highlighting the relevant cameras along the path and matching them to the cameras being viewed. "Here, this is our path."

"Alright, good. We'll get there, radio for help, and hopefully we get good news." Novikova said.

Resso muttered something, the word "babysitting" audible. Novikova moved to smack him again, but was interrupted by Hewlett.

"Hit him later, not when we need to keep quiet!" Hewlett protested.

Cortana sighed and closed the windows, returning to the list of operable cameras. She wondered how many people like 2Lt. Resso she would meet. As an AI, nobody dared to question her importance, or the importance of keeping her safe. Was the fact that she could store security information and provide tactical services the only reason anyone cared? Logically, of course; Smart AI's were one step away from coming off a production line. But now that she was just a human and couldn't do as much, nor could she be of much use in combat, did that make her useless baggage?

Surely, the Resso's of the world were the minority, or there would be no 'leave no man behind' policy. But the fact that Resso's mindset could exist at all was suddenly much more troubling to Cortana than it used to be.

Cortana was about to get up, when she noticed that a lot more of the cameras had red exclamation points beside them. In the past five minutes, many more of the cameras had been disabled.

"Guys, we might have a problem here." Cortana said, pointing at the screen.

"What is it?" Hewlett asked.

"See those exclamation points? That means the camera's been taken out." Cortana explained. "Five minutes ago, it was just these few up here. Now, it's up to… thirty of them."

"So the base is losing power, so what?" Resso asked.

Even as he spoke, another exclamation point appeared beside one of the cameras. Cortana opened her mouth to speak, when another camera corresponding to that hallway also went offline.

"Open another one in there." Novikova said.

Cortana brought that camera. It was a random hallway, plain concrete all around. A single Flood form slowly walked towards the camera, staring right at it. As everyone watched, the Flood form stopped in front of the camera for a second, staring at it. It then jumped, swiped at the camera, and the feed was cut. An exclamation point appeared beside that camera on the list.

"…they're killing the cameras? They've never done that before." Resso said.

"Actually… in some of the quarantined zones, there have been reports of the Flood doing exactly that in the quarantined buildings with that kind of security." Novikova said. "We're hoping that they're just… curious, or something, but…"

"But what?" Cortana asked.

"There's a chance that they're getting smarter." Novikova replied.

"But… that's not what they do, that goes against their whole biology." Hewlett said. "The only way they'd get this coordinated is…" She stopped, realizing the gravity of the answer.

"…a Gravemind." Cortana finished.

"It's just a theory, we really have no proof of it aside from these camera attacks and how similarly the Flood try to break out of Quarantines." Novikova said.

Slowly, one by one, exclamation points appeared beside more cameras on the list.

"Well, we can't just sit here and think about it. Let's get to the tower." Novikova said.

Cortana got to her feet. Novikova immediately thrust an M6D into her hand.

"…I've never-" Cortana began.

"Exhale for long range shots, inhale for short range. We need all the firepower we've got." Novikova said, demonstrating how to reload the second M6D before handing it to Hewlett. Resso just shook his head, snickering to himself, and unslung his MA5B.

Cortana gave an uneasy look to Hewlett, expecting a usual quip of encouragement. This time, however, Hewlett just returned the look. She was a doctor, not a marine.

Novikova and Resso pulled the furniture away from the door. Novikova put her head to the door, listening for nearby Flood. Hearing nothing, she pointed at Resso and pointed to the left, telling him to check that way once the door opened. He nodded.

Novikova slowly pulled the door open. Resso immediately took point, stepping out and looking down the left hallway. Novikova quickly stepped out to look down the right. Both paths were clear.

Cortana's path dictated that they go right. Novikova motioned for Cortana and Hewlett to follow, and took point down the right path. Cortana and Hewlett came up behind her, with Resso watching their backs.

The room they were in was the closest to the stairs leading topside. The hallway took a left, leading directly to the stairs up. The group followed them, entering a long, narrow room. The door out was to the left, and throughout the room on each side were doors leading to other rooms. The door out was open, and right outside was the broken frame of the escape pod they landed in. Though there was blood and spent ammunition around it, there were no bodies.

Cortana wiped the sweat from her face. How did John manage to do this every day? With the gurgling of the Flood coming from everywhere at once, you couldn't trust what you heard. The thick, musky dust of the Flood stung the eyes. The Flood could spring up from any direction, so at any second, Cortana knew she could die. The idea of dying without seeing John again was painful, but even more than that, this was the first time Cortana felt real mortal fear. She wasn't just a chip inside a helmet anymore; she was the target of virtually every living thing in UNSC-11. She couldn't calculate the odds of survival anymore, but in actually having to live through them rather than figure them out, she realized that ignorance was not bliss.

Once outside, the path was simple: go right, make their way to the end of this stretch of road, take a right, get to the end of that, left, there's the tower. Novikova stepped out first, checking both directions. There was no sign of life to the left, but to the right were a pair of Flood forms, standing motionless. Novikova signaled their presence, then stepped back in and closed the door.

"Two of the walkers are up there." Novikova said. "I couldn't see any others, but this place will probably go straight to hell once they hear the shots."

"So what's the plan, then?" Hewlett asked.

"We run and gun. Suppressive fire on anything coming at us." Novikova replied. "Aim for the legs so they can't follow. Once we get to the tower, choke point defense at the door until they stop coming."

"You two, make yourselves useful and cap the two up there first." Resso said.

"Now is NOT the time for-" Novikova started.

"Have they ever used one of those before? No!" Resso interrupted. "They need a practice shot on something stationary before my life is placed in their hands!"

Novikova was ready to smack him, but what he said was true. Cortana and Hewlett needed to experience the recoil of the sidearms before any actual combat.

Cortana and Hewlett stepped outside. The two Flood were still there, backs turned.

"Alright… both hands, arms straight, remember to lead the target if they start moving…" Novikova whispered, realizing as the words left her mouth that spouting common sense wasn't helping.

"On three." Hewlett said, taking aim. "One… two…"

Cortana wiped her forehead and took aim. She wasn't thinking about any one thing. She had to stay alive, she had to see John, she had to make the first shot, exhale for long range, a new Gravemind, John…

"…three!"

Cortana and Hewlett opened fire on the Flood. Hewlett's was hit square in the chest, while Cortana's took it in the thigh. They stumbled backwards, gurgling in rage.

"Go!" Novikova yelled, leading through the doors. Resso again brought up the read, and the four of them began to run.


End file.
